864 MERGULUS URIA 



MERGULUS, Vieillot, 1816. 



1191. LITTLE AUK. 

 MERGULUS ALLE. 



Mergulus alle (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 211 (1766) ; (Naum.), xii. p. 552, 

 Taf. 334 ; (Hewitson), ii. p. 465, pi. cxxvii. fig. 1 ; (Gould), B. of 

 E. v. pi. 402 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit. v. pi. 50 ; Dresser, viii. p. 591, 

 pi. 624 ; (Ogilvie Grant), Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxvi. p. 569 ; 

 (Bidgway), p. 19 j Saunders, p. 705 ; Lilford, vi. p. 94, pi. 42. 



Guillemot nain, French; Krdblent anther, German; Kleine 

 Alk, Dutch ; Haftirdill, Halkion, Icel. ; Lille KrabbedyWcer, Dan.; 

 Alkekonge, Norweg. ; Alkekung, Swed. ; Jaakyyhkynen, Finn. 



Ad. (Greenland). Head and neck sooty black with a brownish tinge ; 

 upper parts of body and wing-coverts black glossed with purplish blue, 

 the scapulars margined with white; wings and tail black, the short 

 secondaries tipped with white ; under parts white, the flanks striped with 

 black ; bill plumbeous black ; legs dark livid flesh-colour ; iris dark 

 brown. Gape 0*9, wing 4'8, tail 1'4, tarsus 0*82 inch. Sexes alike. In 

 winter the entire throat and sides of the neck are white, and the nape 

 slightly marked with white. 



Hal. The Arctic Ocean north to Franz Josefs Land, east to 

 Novaya Zemlya, west to Baffin's Bay, ranging south after the 

 nesting season to the coasts of Great Britain, Scandinavia, the 

 Baltic up to the Gulf of Bothnia, and the North Sea, and 

 Atlantic south to the Canaries and Azores. 



In habits it is essentially a sea-bird. It feeds, usually in large 

 flocks, on small Crustacea and probably also on small fish. At 

 its breeding places, which are u often near the top of lofty cliffs, 

 it is said to be very noisy, continually uttering its note, trrr, 

 trrr, tet, tet, tet, trrr. It breeds in rocky places, depositing a 

 single egg between the stones, or in clefts of the rocks. The 

 eggs are pale greenish blue, sometimes almost white, occasion- 

 ally dotted and spotted, chiefly at the larger end, with pale red, 

 and measure about T88 by T31. 



UEIA, Brisson, 1760. 



1192. BLACK GUILLEMOT. 



URIA GRYLLE. 



Uria grylle, Linn. Syst. Nat i. p. 220 (1766); (Naum.), xii. p. 461, 

 Taf. 330 ; Hewitson, ii. p. 462, pi. cxxvi. ; Gould, B. of E. v. pi. 399 ; 

 id. B. of Gt. Brit. v. pi. 49 ; Dresser, viii. p. 581, pi. 623 ; Ogilvie 

 Grant, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxvi. p. 580 ; (Ridgway), p. 16 ; Saunders, 

 p. 703 ; Lilford, vi. p. 91, pi. 41. 



